I’m an epidemiology professor and I write a weekly “weather report” outbreaks [1]. These communication and data blackouts are coming at a bad time. We’re having an unusual flu season—activity has rebounded unexpectedly. I’ve been having to scramble for data, last week by visiting each state health department website. It’s really troubling and consequential.

[1] https://caitlinrivers.substack.com

The first round of test results should come in Friday or this weekend. The longer it goes undiagnosed, the more we tip into categories 2 and 3.